Almighty row after pensioner barricades bell-ringers in church tower at protest over village noise

A livid pensioner confronted a group of six professional bell-ringers before locking them in a church tower after the noise took its toll.

The unknown elderly man swore at the group having climbed the narrow staircase to the belfry of St John the Evangelist Church in Sharow, near Ripon, North Yorkshire.

After protesting to the bell-ringers - who had travelled from the south of England especially - and threatening to damage their cars, the man then closed the door to the tower and wedged it shut with a piece of wood, leaving the half-dozen musicians, aged between 46 and 65, trapped.

Former Church Warden and member of the village congregation Rosemary Triffitt shows the wooden wedges which had trapped the bell-ringers

The bell-ringers were locked in at the St John the Evangelist Church in Sharow, near Ripon, North Yorkshire

Mrs Triffitt in the church's belfry, where the musicians were trapped

They were shut in for half an hour on Sunday before being freed by Sandra Price, member of the church who heard banging from the trapdoor when she went to lock up.

The 69-year-old, who had told the group she would return to lock up after their three-hour peal, said: 'I thought it was strange when I arrived and there cars were still outside and they were not ringing any more.

'I wandered up at 5.10pm and heard this stamping and I thought that was a funny way to ring the bells - it sounded more like Irish dancing!

'Then I went up the tower and I could hear the stamping going on again.

'I went in and entered the tower room
and called out twice.

'I waited five minutes and a piece of wood flew down the stairs. I thought these people are destroying the church!'

Mrs Price continue: 'I heard them call out "we're
trapped" so I climbed the next set of stage and found a piece of wood
had been lodge in the hasp and staple.

'The piece of wood that fell down had obviously been stuck through there too.

'I removed the wood and opened the door and there were the bell ringers!

'They were relieved to see me. They
said they were a third of a way through their peal when a man appeared,
shouting and swearing.

'He was being very, very nasty and threatening to smash up their cars.

'He must have been the one who locked
them in. I tried to get a detailed description from them but the lady
said they tried not to look at him because he was so angry.

'They just tried to ignore him until he left then finished their peal.'